2023 has been one of the best years for gaming, with so many excellent titles, and there are still six months to go, with even more heavy hitters on the horizon. While this has been a good year, it’s also seen some pretty terrible games, a few with decent expectations, others showing promise and fizzling out, and the rest being astonishingly bad. Here are 15 of the worst games of 2023 so far.
Greyhill Incident
What could have been a B-movie horror game turns into an unfunny, painfully unaware low-budget horror game. Aliens invade your small town, and you go around “saving” people. You fight the aliens sometimes, and they’re as threatening as inflatables at a pool party. Throw in lots of awful dialogue, dumb objectives that are difficult to parse, a nonsensical plot, terrible voice acting and bugs galore, and the Greyhill Incident is just one of the absolute worst games of the year.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
How do you mess up a Lord of the Rings game, that too with one of its most recognizable characters? The Lord of the Rings: Gollum makes it look easy, focusing on bland events in Smeagol’s life with asinine mechanics and tedious objectives. The stealth is poor, and Gollum’s character is nothing like the books or films, not that the script does a good job of delivering something original. Such was the failure of this game that Daedalic Entertainment has stopped game development entirely, halting another Lord of the Rings title (rumored to be a sequel to Gollum) and focusing instead on publishing.
Stray Blade
Stray Blade does have some potential with its lore and art style. Unfortunately, this is quickly undone thanks to the annoying protagonist, frustrating combat where you can dodge some attacks and parry others (not both), poor and limited enemy design, progression-blocking bugs and more. Improvements have reportedly been made to the combat post-launch, but its other flaws still stick out.
Redfall
Arkane Austin’s Redfall could have capitalized on improved communication and paved the way for other high-profile Xbox exclusives like Starfield and Forza Motorsport. Instead, it crashed and burned, packed to the brim with bugs, dumb AI, a sparsely populated and boring world, lackluster enemy variety, stupid vampires, terrible weapons, horrible dialogue – and, of course, performance issues on PC. Playing on Xbox Series X/S is torturous, thanks to no aim assist or advanced control settings. Top it off with no matchmaking, and this “co-op experience” just sucks.
Crime Boss: Rockay City
With the initial announcement, Crime Boss: Rockay City appeared to have poured most of its budget into big-name Hollywood stars. Unfortunately, it didn’t give them much direction or compelling dialogue, and the gameplay feels completely superfluous. Missions feel like little more than shoot-outs against tanky foes, and the campaign is forgettable at best. What could have been a pulpy take on Payday’s heists ends up as a bug-riddled, cheesy mess.
Ravenbound
Despite Systemic Reaction’s previous titles, like Generation Zero, being middling, I was genuinely stoked for Ravenbound. A rogue-lite set in a fully 3D open world based on Scandinavian folklore sounded interesting. The actual game was a different story, with baffling design decisions for combat, the Hatred system, exploration, long-term progression and more. Underwhelming performance and bugs didn’t help either, and it all just felt so poorly put together. Like Stray Blade, there have been improvements, but it’s got a ways to go.
Beyond Contact
Though published by Deep Silver, Beyond Contact passed completely unnoticed when it was released last April. It’s a sci-fi survival open-world title with base-building and real-time combat with a bright aesthetic, which is all good, but it messes up so much. Most materials do nothing, base defense is poorly balanced, farming is way too much work for little rewards, and the less said about the combat and tanky enemies, the better. Beyond Contact could have been interesting and settled for being fundamentally mediocre.
Rendezvous
With titles like A Space for the Unbound highlighting the game development talent in Indonesia, it hurts to see stuff like Rendezvous. It’s marketed as a “2.5D cyber-noir pixel art action-puzzle adventure.” Sure enough, its aesthetic is very sharp and eye-catching. However, it offers little beyond that than annoying puzzles and stealth to go with its boring combat and half-hearted narrative.
Mia and the Dragon Princess
Wales Interactive has a reputation for FMV-style games, with some standouts (The Complex) and duds (I Saw Black Clouds). Mia and the Dragon Princess sadly falls into the latter category. The story, about Mia and the mysterious Marshanda as they meet and go on the run, is baffling and full of throwaway characters. There’s a lot of fight choreography courtesy of – I kid you not – “Ginger Ninja Trickster”, and you can make some choices which don’t lead to any satisfying conclusion. Is it a good or bad thing that it’s over quickly? You decide.
The Last Worker
In The Last Worker, players control the last human worker who struggles in a world of automation and corporate greed. So it’s a shame that the protagonist Kurt isn’t particularly likeable or the writing very interesting. Some solid gameplay could have saved it, but unfortunately, The Last Worker offers awful mini-games and some poorly handled themes. Not even VR and unique mechanics can help.
Clive ‘N’ Wrench
Dr Daucas has stolen Professor Nancy Merricarp’s blueprints for time travel. It’s up to Clive (not that one) and Wrench, a monkey and not a talking wrench, to venture through time to stop Daucas. Making a compelling 3D platformer can be challenging, and Clive ‘N’ Wrench sadly fails where it counts. Controls and combat are terrible, and the performance leaves much to be desired (watch out for projectiles from enemies running at a different frame rate). It may have been something with more time and polish, but unfortunately ends up awkwardly skirting by.
Colossal Cave Reimagined
A 3D remake of the 1979 text-based adventure, Colossal Cave Reimagined comes from Ken and Roberta Williams, known for legendary adventure games like the King’s Quest series under Sierra Entertainment. Sadly, it’s let down by underwhelming visuals and outdated design, like annoying mazes and instant deaths. While the puzzles are decent, the remake feels unnecessary at best and downright frustrating at worst.
Curse of the Sea Rats
A Metroid-style title with hand-drawn animations and somewhat cute visuals, Curse of the Sea Rats ultimately wastes its potential. The rats may as well be human, without any unique mechanics designed around them (much less interesting scenarios for each of the four playable characters), and the world design is as confounding as it is boring. Cap this off with balancing issues, where some enemies are far more challenging than the bosses, and you have a fairly lop-sided, dull adventure.
Farming Simulator 23
At first, I did a double take on seeing Farming Simulator 23 rated so low. How could this be, especially when the previous entries were so beloved? It’s because this year’s iteration launched on mobile devices and ported to the Nintendo Switch. The result is a pared-down experience with limited freedom, fewer features, horrible performance and visuals, and a much higher price tag than the mobile versions.
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
Considering how well-received Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was on PlayStation VR (read: not very well), there was concern that The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR could repeat those mistakes on PlayStation VR2. Unfortunately, it’s worse, even with powerful technology and new features like eye tracking for scary blinking moments. It doesn’t present an interesting story or offer much beyond rudimentary rail shooter segments. Performance issues also bog the entire thing down, which isn’t something you want to highlight on Sony’s next-gen VR.